The National Post is reporting that Rex Murphy, the pundit and columnist who hosted a national call-in radio show for decades, has died.
The newspaper, where he worked as a columnist, says in an obituary on its website that Murphy died at age 77 following a battle with cancer.
He was born outside of St. John’s, N.L., and graduated from Memorial University before attending Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.
Murphy hosted CBC Radio’s “Cross Country Checkup” for more than two decades, before retiring from the role in 2015.
Later in life, he became a loud detractor of the federal Liberal party and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government.
He was also an outspoken opponent of “wokeism,” progressive ideology sensitive to systemic inequities, and argued in his column that conservative voices like his were being pushed to the margins.
Former prime minister Stephen Harper expressed his condolences on social media.
“Rex Murphy was one of the most intelligent and fiercely free-thinking journalists this country has ever known,” Harper wrote.
